RED OAK — In the same week utility companies selected a project contractor, local residents gathered to oppose the proposed natural gas pipeline that will run through Nash County.
Around two dozen opponents of the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline gathered Thursday night at the Red Oak Community Buildingt to hold a people’s hearing, calling on officials with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to reject the pipeline proposal.
While local opposition is building, Duke Progress Energy, Dominion Transmission and other utilities are moving forward with their plans. Spring Ridge Constructors have been tapped to lead construction. The firm is a joint venture of four leading U.S. natural gas pipeline construction companies. Thousands of workers are expected to be hired to build the pipeline running from West Virginia to North Carolina, utility representatives said.
The interstate pipeline has struck a nerve with local landowners.
Betsy Hester, a teacher at Rocky Mount High School, said her family owns two farms less than 1,000 yards from the pipeline easement.
“We are in the incendiary zone,” Hester said. “We go up with the pipeline.”
Hester told everyone not to allow land agents on their property. She said folks should run them off, call the law if they don’t leave and take down any orange surveyor’s tape they may have tied to trees or other objects.
Nash Stop The Pipeline President Marvin Winstead echoed Hester’s suggestions.
“Don’t be nice to these land agents,” Winstead said. “They see it as a sign of weakness.”
Winstead described Duke Energy representatives as unscrupulous and unethical.
Hester said she hopes FERC isn’t the corporate rubber stamp it’s rumored to be. She said when the natural gas dries up, the utility companies can pump any chemical they want through the pipeline.
“I was against it before I even knew where it would go,” Hester said. “We write letters to the editor. Do they run our letters? No. but we haven’t run a full-page ad like Duke Energy.”
John Hinnant, a retired Wilson school teacher, said North Carolina won’t benefit from the pipeline and it will hurt the environment.
“The pipeline isn’t what we need and isn’t what Duke and Dominion should be involved in,” Hinnant said, adding that he was a Duke shareholder since the Carolina Power and Light days.
Hinnant said the pipeline will run under the Tar River with methane seeping into the water and atmosphere, which will contribute to global warming.
“Our world is changing, and this pipeline will change it for the worse,” Hinnant said.
Nash County resident Margaret Sowerwine said as a member of the Sierra Club, she’s worried about how pipeline construction will affect the Tar River. She said she’s afraid contractors will dam the river to lay pipeline under the riverbed.
Clean Water for NC, Nash Stop the Pipeline, NC WARN, EcoRobeson and other organizations sponsored the hearing.
On the pipeline end, utility companies are celebrating the project moving forward.
“We are excited to work with SRC, which has assembled four of the nation’s leading and most-qualified pipeline builders for this project,” said Diane Leopold, president of Dominion Energy. “These companies have extensive experience in building large-scale, complex projects like the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, and their commitment to safe construction practices and best-in-class standards align with our expectations for the project.”